"Oh yeah, of course I heard them," Wigrizer said Thursday
afternoon at Media Day, standing on the Gillette Stadium turf while
soaking in the atmosphere. "People are always going to talk."

Now, when asked to reflect on those swirling rumors —
substantiated or not — Wigrizer can chuckle. The joke is on
them.

"Externally, I don't feel the pressure anymore," he said.

Where are the doubters now? It's no longer in question: Wigrizer
is Duke's starting goalie. He's playing the best lacrosse of his
career, having led the Blue Devils to victories in 12 of their last
13 games entering Saturday's semifinal showdown with Maryland.

It has to be a good feeling for Wigrizer, one of six goalies to
lead their team to a national title as a true freshman, who despite
that fact, has been the focus of consternation instead of
congratulation throughout his career.

Let's take a brief trip down to Tobacco Road...

Wigrizer went to Duke as the expected backup to Sean Brady, the
heir apparent to Rob Schroeder. But with Brady suspended for a
violation of team rules, Wigrizer was inserted between the pipes as
a freshman. He gave up 10 or more goals in eight of Duke's first 10
games but settled in toward end of the regular season. Then,
Wigrizer gave up 14 goals on 23 shots against Virginia in the ACC
Tournament, and he lost his starting spot to Mike Rock.

Four different goalies, including Wigrizer, saw action in the
first two rounds of the NCAA tournament for the Blue Devils, but
Wigrizer played every minute of the final four victories against
Virginia and Notre Dame. Still, he was overshadowed in that 2010
final by Fighting Irish goalie Scott Rodgers.

Wigrizer started all 17 games and recorded a .550 save
percentage as a sophomore, but he still entered 2012 as "a question
mark," as Lacrosse Magazine's season preview story described.
"Fifth-year senior Mike Rock will push [Wigrizer] and freshman U.S.
U19 team goalie Kyle Turri, Justin's brother, is lurking."

Wigrizer described this season as a "rollercoaster ride." He
made 16 stops in an early-season 7-3 loss to Notre Dame but
suffered a concussion in practice the following week. It was
Wigrizer's third concussion in the last year, so he knew he had to
take it slow.

"The season was downhill from there," Wigrizer said. "The
concussion was even worse because of my past history with
concussions. It's a brain injury. It's not like a broken leg where
you can just throw on a cast. It's something we don't know much
about. You have all this stuff going on with football. It's a
brain, not a bone."

After missing three games — a stretch that included an ACC
loss to Maryland —Wigrizer was cleared to play 36 hours
before Duke's game against then-No. 9 Loyola. Wigrizer allowed
seven goals out of eight shots on goal. He was pulled before
halftime.

"If you're cleared, you're going to play," Wigrizer said. "I had
two days of very, very limited practice. I wasn't really seeing the
ball during live drills. It was tough stepping into that game. It
was the worst game that I've ever played in my entire life. It just
didn't go well."

That's when the message board banter hit a high. Would Wigrizer
play the role of a modern-day Wally Pipp, losing his spot while
injured to Lou Gehrig? Could Duke turn the reigns over to Turri,
the highly regarded freshman recruit who played well against
Maryland? Did Mike Rock give them the best chance to win? At 3-3,
could the Blue Devils afford to make changes?

"When I missed games, Kyle Turri and Mike Rock went in, and they
both won. Kyle's a great goalie and played well. He has a ton of
potential. He's going to do great things in his career. Maybe that
helped me out in the long run? Maybe that got me working harder
mentally? Whether it did or didn't, I don't know. It definitely
focused me. When you're not starting and you're used to starting,
you don't like the feeling."

Though Wigrizer started each of the next six games — all
wins — that feeling resurfaced against Syracuse on April 1.
Wigrizer was pulled for a roughly five-minute stretch in the second
half of that game after surrendering the lead, though the officials
forced him to leave because he had blood on his knee. "But there
certainly was discussion [about pulling Wigrizer] before that,"
Duke coach John Danowski said. "I'm not going to say there
wasn't."

Wigrizer re-entered and made four fourth-quarter stops to
literally save the game, a 12-10 win over the Orange at the Big
City Classic.

"Going into the fourth quarter against Syracuse I said, 'Look, I
might not have played well yet, but this is the fourth quarter. If
I can play well, I can completely change the game around. And
completely change how I'm playing.'"

Then, two weeks later, Wigrizer took it another step in Duke's
preparation for top-ranked Virginia.

"One of the first games of the season, I had my music blasting
and coach Galloway walked up to me. He said, 'Dude, you're a junior
now. You don't need that stuff.'"

-- Duke goalie Dan
Wigrizer

"I just knew going into the Virginia game, that if I wanted to
turn the season around, that this was going to be the game to do
it," he said. "That was it. That was a great start to what's come
so far the rest of the year."

He played arguably his best game of the season, making 14 saves
to slow the Cavaliers' high-powered offense. And ever since,
Wigrizer has been stout for the Blue Devils, whose defense has
clicked in the second half of the season.

"He was thrown into being the starting goalie as a freshman when
that was not the plan," Danowski said. "I don't think anyone
thought that was the plan when Danny arrived on campus. After a
while, everything slows down a little bit. Everything becomes a
little bit easier. We've seen a more relaxed person in the goal,
and he's doing things he's never done before in the goal. He has
had done a great job of maturing."

Volunteer assistant coach John Galloway, who also won a national
championship as a freshman goalie at Syracuse in 2008, helped
Wigrizer get to a point where he can just relax. Play the position
he knows. Not worry about outside distractions.

"I always knew I needed to relax," Wigrizer said. "I knew
mentally that I had to chill. Last year, all the other coaches said
the same thing as well. We talked about relaxing. They said, 'You
get very excitable.' Just getting pumped up, really into it, moving
too much. Instead of just hanging out, relaxing and letting the
ball come to you. You don't need to make the play. Let the ball
come to you and then stop the ball. Coach Galloway, he's there at
every timeout, every time we get off the field. He's usually like,
'Hey, what's going on?' Hanging out, small talk like that. That's
huge for me."

For Wigrizer, whose energetic, outgoing personality makes him
one of the team's favorites, relaxing is easier said than done. But
he has been able to find a "happy medium" in the second half of the
season, "just getting into my zone."

"It's not so much relaxing as clearing my mind, but I do that by
relaxing," Wigrizer said. "I really try not to think about much
whatsoever. Try not to think about the game, or what's going to
happen.

"In the locker room, you'll see me in a chair, completely
slouched over, maybe re-taping my stick or looking at. Literally
expressionless. If you were to see me, you wouldn't think this kid
is going to play a huge game. You'd be like, 'What is that kid
doing?' It's as if I'm just sitting on a couch watching TV. Just
hanging out. I don't get mentally, physically fired up. I just kind
of calm down."

Which is the exact opposite as what Wigrizer did two years ago,
when he was a baby-faced freshman at the final four. "Back then, it
was Eminem in my iPod earphones. Hard rap music. Completely
blasting music trying to get pumped up.

"One of the first games of the season, I had my music blasting
and coach Galloway walked up to me. He said, 'Dude, you're a junior
now. You don't need that stuff.' And I said to him, 'You're
completely right.' I'm just going to go out, play and do my
thing."

When a reporter asked Wigrizer on Thursday what the feeling is
like to be in Foxborough, he smiled. "Pretty used to it now. Third
one in a row. It's just another lacrosse weekend."

Totally calm, totally in control.

And without putting the cart before the horse, Wigrizer is two
wins away from claiming a second national championship.

If that happens, then there might be new mumbles outside Durham,
debating Wigrizer's place among elite company.

Getting Acquainted With the Environs

All four teams practiced at Gillette Stadium on Friday afternoon
for about an hour, in reverse order of their Media Day appearances
Thursday.

More than anything, the teams were getting used to the
environment, familiarizing themselves with the sightlines and
reviewing the game plan.

Meanwhile, the stadium operations crew was going through final
preparations for the weekend's festivities. The ESPN SkyCam swooped
down close to the field between practices, checking out the angles
it'll be able to capture and bring to homes across the
country.